Last night I went to bed way too late. I had no business watching YouTube after climbing under the covers, but I did. This SNL video called "Best Christmas Ever" was "recommended" so I watched it. And I liked it, a lot, for two reasons:

It made me laugh (which wasn't helpful in terms of falling asleep)

It made me feel like a good parent (while I could relate to the family in the video, our family isn't that bad :)

Maybe you'll enjoy it too. Good luck as we head into the holiday homestretch.

"We also found children were better off when parents cared about work as a source of challenge, creativity, and enjoyment ..."

If you spend time wondering how your career and/or your spouse's career might affect your kids, you'll want to read this HBR article: How Our Careers Affect Our Children by Stewart D. Friedman.

Here are just a few of the interesting insights provided by studies outlined in this relatlvely short article:

Children’s emotional health was higher when parents (both fathers and mothers) believed that family should come first, regardless of the amount of time they spent working (i.e. Attitudes and priorities are more important than the number of hours you work)

Children were better off when parents cared about work as a source of challenge, creativity, and enjoyment (regardless of the time spent on it) (i.e. Your attitude and feelings about your career make a difference in your kids' lives)

Children were more likely to show behavioral problems if their fathers were overly involved psychologically in their careers (whether or not they worked long hours)

To the extent that a father was performing well and feeling satisfied with his job, his children were likely to demonstrate relatively few behavior problems (independent of how many hours he worked each day)

For mothers, having authority and discretion at work was associated with mentally healthier children(i.e. They found that children benefit if their mothers have control over what happens to them when they are working)

Mothers spending time on themselves (for relaxation and self-care, but not housework), was associated with positive outcomes for children(i.e. What mothers do with their time at home is more important that how much time they spend in the home each day)

The time parents spent working each day did not influence children’s mental health

​If being a great parent only required us to read the right articles and follow the advice provided in them, more of us might consider ourselves great, or at least pretty good, parents. But most parents would probably agree that reading and following the advice provided doesn't alway produce the results we expect! No two kids are alike, and we've yet to find any advice that works for everyone who follows it.

Many corporate leaders tell their employees, "We're paying you to think, not just follow instructions." Jobs that only require people to follow precisely defined instructions rarely pay as much as jobs that require people to think in the midst of challenging situations. And most parents would probably agree that if parenting were a paid gig, it would definitely be one of those jobs that requires a lot of thinking during challenging situations!

Dr. Alison Escalante's recent TEDx Talk called Parenting the "Shouldstorm" is very entertaining and uplifting. She describes how we can get caught up trying to do all of the things others tell us we should be doing, and she recognizes that the advice isn't always helpful. Often, as parents, we've got to think through unique ways of dealing with our challenges. In the TEDx Talk Dr. Escalante outlines a great process for engaging your brain during tough situations, and it might just change the way you parent. We highly recommend it!

Dr. Alison Escalante is a mother, wife, and primary care pediatrician. ​She has a deep interest in developing children and helping them live rich healthy lives.

Sometimes a picture can be summed up in just two words; "Working Parent".

They say that a picture is worth a thousands words. But sometimes a picture can be summed up in just two words; "Working Parent".

We couldn't help but smile when we saw this picture of four-year-old Catherine with her mother, Abigail Spanberger, on election night as Abigail gave her victory speech after winning the election to represent Virginia's 7th Congressional District.

Most working parents learn to balance work and parenting, and some, like Abigail, appear to integrate them on occassion.

Abigail Spanberger is a mother, wife, and heading to the US Congress where she will represent Virginia's 7th Congressional District.

"We all take from our parents a set of expectations about what it is we're supposed to do."

People work for many reasons. We often assume that people work to support their families which is often true. But how often do you stop to think about how your work, and the example it sets, benefits your children beyond putting food on the table and a roof over their heads?

Kathleen McGinn, a Harvard Business School professor, explains how our careers help our child in this short video(2:26 min).

Kathleen L. McGinn is the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor McGinn studies the role of gender and social class at work, at home, and in negotiations.

"We encouraged independence and self-reliance from a very early age ..."

Even though it was a little unusual back in the '60s and '70s, my husband and I both worked while we raised our two girls. We encouraged independence and self-reliance from a very early age and were happy to send them out into the world knowing they could make their own decisions and take responsibility for their actions.

When the girls were in pre-school, I spent time with them each evening after dinner reading, talking about their day, making up songs about their activities, and rubbing their backs as they went to sleep. Their father read to them a lot too, and he made up games that included things like finding places on the large map we hung on a wall in our home.

We always gave our girls choices. We started small by letting them choose what to wear to school, and then later, as teens, they were given a clothing allowance which they could save or use to buy the fashion they wanted. We supplied the basics like underwear, socks, and shoes.

When they were in school, I often asked them if they would rather that I didn't work so I could be at home more, and their answer was always that same, "No, because you are more interesting when you work.”

My husband (their father) was a college professor, so he had more flexible hours and was usually around when they came home from school. That was a blessing.

As for rules, we drew an imaginary circle around them and they were free to do what they wanted within it. But when they stepped outside of that circle (e.g. staying out past curfew or not letting us know where they were), there were consequences. One daughter often thanks us for giving her a curfew. Maybe this is why she still goes to bed early!

We always ate our evening meal together so each of us could talk about our day or other topics of interest. These family times are what they tell us they remember the most.

Now, all of these years later, we can see that they, along with their husbands, do even better than we did as parents.

Eleanor Wiebe is a mother, grandmother, great grandmother and wife who is now retired.

Sometimes our jobs provide benefits beyond those we anticipate before we start them. In this shortvideoclip (5 min) taken from her appearance on The Ellen Show earlier this week, Michelle Obama describes an unexpected benefitthat President Obama appreciated during his second term in office. It's a story that most parents will appreciate now ... or eventually.

Back in the day, when I took maternity leave and my husband supplemented it with a combination of vacation time and some unpaid time off which we considered his paternity leave, most parental leave was unpaid (although there was some partially paid time-off provided in the form of disability leave for six weeks following the birth of a baby). Given that both my husband and I were earning above-average incomes, this meant that we lost a fair amount of income during our leaves and that we were able to financially plan for it and easily weather it. But make no mistake, we did have to plan for it.

Fast forward 28 years, and I'm finding all the talk about the need for paid parental leave interesting. I agree it is a great benefit and believe it is most valuable for those with lower incomes. Interestingly, it seems like the companies who are most often offering paid parental leave right now are also the companies who pay their employees well. So theoretically, these employees could probably afford to take parental leave with or without the benefit (assuming they manage their finances well and their employers would welcome them back at the end). Or maybe it's fortunate that these companies are leading the way, and the benefit will be available to all, or at least more, after the positive affects are recognized.

Recently, my husband and I were in an airport preparing to return home after a fun trip to New York City. As we sat at the gate, eating some expensive airport sandwiches, we watched others who were sitting in a high-end bar nearby, enjoying even more expensive food and drinks. One group of young people sat at one of those high tables and each of them had a "wine flight" in front of them. I asked my husband, "Why are we (the retired and financially secure couple) sitting here eating sandwiches while the young people are enjoying wine flights?!" I couldn't help but think about all of the stuff I'd have guessed they will need more than a flight of wine in the near future; things like the ability to take some unpaid time off after the birth of a child.

Now I'm old enough to know that it's possible that those young adults are making lots more money than I ever did, they could have been born into wealth so they'll never have to think about budgeting, or they may be the best savers in the world who've already saved enough money for four parental leaves, as well as the college educations that will be expected on the other end of that financial journey. In the big scheme of things, wine flights aren't going to make or break too many budgets for people who can already afford to travel by air.

But still, parental leaves, which we highly recommend, should not be out of reach for many couples. Thinking ahead, and budgeting appropriately, can enable many couples to make them a reality.

And interestingly, I'm here to report that down the road, parents may not even miss the income lost during parental leaves. But old habits are hard to break, and young people who plan and budget so that they can take parental leaves may someday find themselves at the airport eating sandwiches at the gate ... instead of enjoying wine flights in a high-end bar.

Kathy Haselmaier is a mother, wife, and the editor of Working Parent Stories. She and her husband worked full-time while raising their children. ​​​